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The trick is starting your trip in Brazil.
Over the past couple of years I’ve noticed American Airlines opens more space to Brazil ( namely Sao Paolo and Rio ) than anywhere else they service in South America ( long haul ). And that’s fine by me…Brazil is high on my list of places to visit. Whether you’re looking to hit up the sandy beaches of Ipanema, gaze at the majestic Iguazu Falls, or immerse yourself in the hustle bustle of Sao Paulo – there’s a lot to do just in Brazil. It’s also a great place start a trip and then continue on to Argentina, Chile, or Uruguay. And that’s just what I’ve been planning to do.
Later in the year, I have a trip penciled in for South America. ( I’ve actually penciled in a trip to South America since 2012, so fingers crossed this year). While researching the trip, one particular location stuck out in my head, Brasilia. There was always a lot of award availability, but I’d mainly focused on seeing Rio and Sao Paulo so hadn’t seriously considered going there until… Last night. It hit me. This could be a great use of Iberia Avios, especially those 90k promo miles that are going to expire come December 1st. Here’s why.
What I discovered was a sweet spot in Iberia’s award chart for flying American Airlines in business class – stay under 8k miles roundtrip and you’ll do it for 100k Avios instead of 150k Avios ( 8k-12k roundtrip flight miles ). Most of the really good longhaul routes to South America don’t come in under 8k miles, but one does. Miami to Brasilia. From Brasilia you can easily fly direct to Rio, Sao Paulo, and Iguazu Falls. Here’s a map via Google Maps: it’s less than a 2 hour flight to Rio.
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Here’s the Iberia Avios redemption chart for American Airlines.
Using milecalc.com – here’s a look at various routing options on American from the US to South America. All over 8k miles roundtrip, pricing at 150k Iberia Avios.
Miami is the southernmost city, but I’ve thrown in some Dallas routes as well.
Check out this route. Miami to Brasilia. 7200 miles roundtrip. 100k Avios.
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It’s super easy to book on Iberia.com and carries low fees.
AA services this route with a retrofit 757. It uses the same business class as their transcon A321T.
Is this the best business class American offers to South America? No, they fly their 77W on many routes, but this is a very good business class and the flight is roughly 8 hours.
For comparison’s sake…it’s the seat KLM uses on most of their business class flights.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, you can simply, and instantly, transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to Iberia to shore your account from 90k to 100k.
The easiest way to search for availability is using AA.com. Set your parameters for Non-stop. Here’s a sample of what it will look like:
Hope this gets your creative juices flowing!
I’m not sure that I’ll ultimately do this, but it’s worth knowing it’s possible, and illustrates how routing, and being creative had stretch your points a lot further than you may think at first glance.
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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.